More on the Crozet Library

Update 10 February:

Ann Mallek writes that the meeting tonight is questionable due to the weather. Make sure you check albemarle.org before you go.

From the CrozetEagle listserv:

Many of you may not know that the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors has spoken about closing Scottsville Library and our own Crozet Library. Due to budget constraints, they say there is not enough money for these libraries. It has been shown that the cost of running the libraries in Albemarle County is well below the other areas in Virginia. Also the Crozet Library has increased their volume of circulation over the last 2 years. As you know, once they do close this library, it is very likely we will not get another one – new or old back into this area.

Please help us save our local library! They are trying to brainstorm ideas of how we can help save the library. Right now due to weather conditions, they are not having a library meeting scheduled. But, there is a Board of Supervisors meeting on Wednesday Feb. 10th. Anyone who wishes, can go and sign up to speak out for the library.

We also have petitions to sign against closure put out at Crozet Pharmacy, Crozet Hardware Store, Mudhouse and the Post Office. I will try to put out more petitions as weather clears. Also there is a website I have created for people to post on and I am sending these to Board of Supervisors:www.savecrozetlibrary.webs.com. Please forward this info to anyone you can! On this website is a calendar for future events. If we can get the weather to co-operate, I will try again to post new dates for any meetings.
You can also email Albemarle County Supervisors to let them know how you feel. So far they are saying that the Scottsville Library will definitely close and Crozet is on the border line of closure!!

Any ideas would be helpful, if you can’t attend the meeting but would like your ideas expressed, feel free to email me – Karen Elias. Thanks for supporting a great community cause!!

Not only is Crozet not getting the mammoth new library it was expecting, a possible ten percent budget cut might mean closure of library it already enjoys, and Scottsville could lose its library with just a five percent cut. This is according to Anthony Townsend, president of the board of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library.

And from NBC29:

With Albemarle County proposing budget cuts of 5 or 10 percent, the library’s board says it will not stand for it.”Such cuts would likely force the closure of Albemarle’s two smallest branch libraries in Scottsville and Crozet,” Townsend said. The library’s president says they will not have Albemarle dictate how its money is spent, especially when it comes to its hours of operation.

I guess if you repeat a lie enough times it becomes true. After the last several years of funding increases the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors is wanting to decrease the amount of funding it gives to the
Jefferson Madison Regional Library. They in turn threaten to close the
Crozet and Scottsville branches if this happens. Why they feel they should be immune from the budget cuts that will efffect everyone else
is beyond me. Why the library folks are playing this silly game is a good
question. I feel that the BOS should call their bluff. All Crozet area schools have libraries, maybe the BOS should look into ways of keeping them open later for general public use. Might even save some money that way.

Edward, you must be a bit more than clueless to think that school libraries stock the same books as the public libraries. Not so, as school libraries serve their students, so Crozet Elemetary has books that appeal to 4-9 year old children but not me. And schools do never allow any adult to enter the school properties if they have no school-realted business to do. Also public libraries serve other -I dare say essential- services to a community. You may be right to think that BOD should call Townsend’s bluff, but I am not sure if this is a wise road to go.

Edward, since you are not a reader and like to act illiterate (reading is overrated….?), I realize that responding to your comments is like talking to a chair. Pointless. But if you don’t care and think that for that reason no-one else should care about having a library or not is an utter selfish and narrow minded frame of mind. But, hey why being surprised about this? Lots of people do not think further than the length of their nose.

i would suggest to EVERYONE to ignore any comments by Strauss, if you search his name and look at his comments on other blogs, it’s ALL hot air and all he wants to do is start arguments.
I would suggest to Strauss that if you don’t like Crozet then move away. No one is making you stay here, if you don’t have kids or care about the education of kids then don’t comment on what you don’t know or care about. Go away and live in a hole.

I am in agreement with Peter,
Edward thinks only his ideas are correct… he likes to argue.
Its rather ridiculous but I don’t think there is much we can do to change him!! Only his ideas go and if you are not in agreement with him it seems he wont let you forget it
Hey Edward it takes all different types of people to make this world go round, think about what others are saying you are not always right!

Again, not be able to recognize the political game that is going on over this
you feel that your opinions are correct. What did I write that is not correct? Are y’all even mature enough to admit it. Do you even have the reading skill to understand that Ed Strauss, Jr is not me? Self serving statements are not facts. That is why the BOS can easily ignore you. A bunch of sheep without the facts can not represent anything. The Western
Albemarle HS library has books that are above the average reading level of this community. In the past the school has been open to non school related activities so it would not be too much of a stretch to make that
library available. Peter, time for you to grow up and actually back up what you are trying to imply about someone you do not know. I just do
not allow people like you to determine how I think. Are you even capable
of discussing facts?

Jim, after your last post about the library, I wrote the BOS. I got replies from Ann Mallek, Dennis Rooker and Ken Boyd. They pointed out two unequivocal things: 1) They are committed to keeping Crozet library and 2) they do not make the final decision about the closure, JMRL does. AC BOS gives money to JMRL, who makes the decisions. Also, this closure rumor is due to the BOS requesting impact projections of 5 and 10% cuts to their funding. Projections. In other words, if JMRL gets the cuts as projected, they would close the library rather than reducing hours.

I think the best way to tackle this should have several components: 1) continue the petition, 2) email BOS if you care about the library (Mallek mentioned this was vital to raise awareness on the board) and 3) work on a way to make the closing of the library ineffective at reducing their costs. In other words, find a way to keep operating expenses down or personnel costs down, perhaps with volunteer staffing/support.

In other words, find a way to keep operating expenses down or personnel costs down, perhaps with volunteer staffing/support.

JMRL has more volunteers than they have employees, and more than a few performing crucial functions. These sorts of ideas were considered and implemented by JMRL decades ago. JRML’s operating expenses are one and the same as their personnel costs; just about everything else (i.e. books, computers) is funded from non-local funds. They can either further cut the already-anemic hours for all of the branches or eliminate one of the smaller locations. That’s about all we’ve got to pick from.

Or, Find out the dollar amount of the cut to the Library budget. It might
not take that much to keep the Crozet branch open. Fundraising has been
done before both for fire and rescue services. If Community support
really exists for the Library this would be the way to prove it. The BOS
gets tons of e-mail. A real showing of support is what this thing needs.
If you really want it…

A quick comment — According to the Crozet Gazette, Albemarle County Executive Bob Tucker is urging the library to spread the cuts across the J-MRL system. The thing to note about that is that the J-MRL serves Charlottesville, Albemarle, Nelson, and Louisa. Albemarle County is the only entity threatening to cut their fudning. The only branches in Albemarle are Crozet and Scottsville. Library officials do not think it would be fair to cut services in the areas that are maintaining their level of support in order to accommodate Albemarle’s cuts. Cuts in local funding also result in lower state funding (determined by a formula which includes local funding amounts) which would affect all the libraries, not just Albemarle branches.

Troll? I am offering opinion, facts and a possible solution. What do you offer? Imagine if other services acted like the library? Fire, Rescue,
Teachers, Police, If we don’t get our way we will leave … Post Office
reducing hours, and in the future service. Everything is changing yet you
want what you want regardless. Who is the Troll??